Refreshed

MILES DAVIS
The Complete In a Silent Way Sessions
(Columbia/Legacy)
In 1969 jazz giant Miles Davis shocked the music world with the electric explorations of In a Silent Way. That sounds like hyperbole 32 years later, but in the late 60s, when rock was moving in experimental directions and traditional jazz was holding to an increasingly staid course, the combination of amplified instruments, rock dynamics and modal jazz was a radical one. Of course, what we now call fusion has become so commonplace it's usually as uninspired and unadventurous as much of the mainstream jazz it supplanted. But in the late 60s and early 70s, when fusion was in its most fertile and creative period, it could be a truly mindblowing experience.

As he had been for nearly 20 years, trumpeter Miles Davis was in the vanguard of the new music. While many pundits point to 1970's aggressive Bitches Brew as the first fusion album by a major artist, the reality is that Miles had already sailed these waters with the more meditative In a Silent Way a year earlier. Joined by old cohorts like saxophonist Wayne Shorter and drummer Tony Williams (himself a fusion pioneer with his band Lifetime) and new friends like guitarist John McLaughlin, keyboardists Joe Zawinul and Chick Corea and bassist Dave Holland, Miles pushed the envelope of jazz once again with the long, flowing tracks of acoustic and electric luminescence that would become In a Silent Way. As with most artistic upheavals, though, it didn't happen overnight, and the three-CD The Complete In a Silent Way Sessions collects all the tracks not only from the album, but also from the initial sessions in which the sound began to take shape. Many of these tracks later appeared on late 70s compilations like Water Babies, Circle in the Round and Directions; this is the first time they've been collected in one place. The result is a portrait of an artist hitting his creative peak, as well as a document of the evolution of a landmark sound.

"Mademoiselle Mabry," "Frelon Brun" and "Two Faced," the opening trio on disk 1, find Miles working in much the same mode as his slower mid-60s quintet recordings, with Holland on bass and Corea or Herbie Hancock supplying shimmering electric piano in place of the usual acoustic keyboard. Though still in line with what was expected of jazz balladry at the time, these beautiful tunes are very much a taste of things to come. "Dual Mr. Anthony Tillman Williams Process," a nod to Miles' young drummer, speeds things back up in an almost post-bop style, with Hancock making his funky presence felt. "Splash" continues the trend, with Corea joining Hancock on the Rhodes and Holland laying down busier, funkier lines, revving up to a perfect halfway point between bop and fusion. Miles' fascination with James Brown and Sly & the Family Stone makes itself felt here. Its companion piece "Splashdown" is bluesier and more agitated, and features the arrival of keyboardist Josef Zawinul, who would become an important part of the proceedings. (more)